Marsa Zeitya, Gulf of Suez

Anchored at Marsa Zeitya
Gulf of Suez
Red Sea
Egypt
Africa
27'49'8N/33'34'9E

134 Miles to the Suez Canal!!!
0 fish caught...

Right now as I type away the wind is screaming through the rigging over 30. We are securely anchored right up along the beach here at Marsa Zeitya at the south western entrance to the Gulf of Suez. The day before yesterday, while anchored at Endeavour Harbor, Team Sandpiper noticed a drop in the winds (anything below 20 knots is considered calm in the Red Sea). So we sprung into action to make some miles to the north and left the harbor as soon as possible. S/V Shiraz and S/V My Chance decided to wait it out till we could give them a weather brief once we left the harbor.

As usual, as soon as we got out the winds picked back up over 20 knots right off the bow. But we stayed as close to the reefs and islands as possible to get whatever lee that we could. We made it north our daily 7 miles to a lee at Bluff Point. S/V Shiraz and S/V My Chance declined to follow us once we gave them the weather report outside the anchorage. This is where they still remain back there.

We had hoped to make it farther. But the seas outside Bluff Point we could see and were quite large and breaking. So we opted to call it quits and pull into Bluff Point (27'40.6N/33'48.4E). We were followed in by a huge dive charter boat that came quite close to us. We grabbed one of the free moorings along the windward reef. The moorings here are not attached to the bottom, but instead are tied off directly to the reefs. You bow up, and once secured, the wind blows you off the reef. We had no way to grab the moorings as they are floating ON the reef. But the dive boat had a dingy in the water that had used to tie their lines to the mooring. So they came over and hooked us up by tying off our long bow line to the moorings. Then the 30-40 knot winds blew us back off the reef.

Since the winds in this part of the Red Sea are always from the north, you do not have to worry about swinging around on a mooring. If there was a wind direction change, we would have all been blown on to the reef.

By sunset we were surrounded by 3 large dive charter boats that had divers jumping off their sterns and swimming right under the 'Piper. There were bubbles all around us, like a large jacuzzi. After sunset they all jumped back into the water for a night dive. But we were not so sure how safe this was as it was blowing over 30 knots and pitch black. If one of the divers had surfaced and had trouble getting back to their boat, no one would have never known.

We had thought that we would be stuck here for a few days. But at 5am we both woke up wondering what was wrong. It was the fact that the winds had dropped below 15 knots. So once again we sprung into action before sunrise and took off. And once again as soon as we got outside the protection of land, the waves from the previous days' winds were quite huge, burying Sandpipers bow at times with water right over the boat. Our goal was to make the 4 miles north of Bluff Point to where we could turn west to get the wind off the bow and head for our current anchorage. Luckily, for some unknown reason, as we turned west the winds dropped down below 15 knots and we made progress north the 13 miles thru the reefs to where we are currently anchored.

Just before we arrived the winds kicked back up to over 30 knots off the bow. We slowly powered into the small bay were we motored as close to the beach as possible to drop the hook, then backed off 200 feet of chain. This is another spot where if the wind was to change direction, then we would be right on the beach. But if we were lucky enough to have a wind change, then we would be out of here in an instant.

There is a French boat next to us, and another boat from Turkey that we know, the S/V Yosun (Turkish for "Seaweed"). They said that the short passage we had just made was one of the worst passages that they had ever made. They experienced huge waves, and thought for a short period that they were going to capsize.

We had an interesting conversation at sunset tonight with our Turkish and French neighbors in English as their English is quite limited. They asked us to talk to them like one would talk to a baby so we could all understand each other.

For some reason, ever since leaving the U.S., everyone pronounces Sandpiper's name as "Sandpaper". So tonight I had to explain that we were not named after a piece of sandpaper, but a majestic shoreline seabird.

The anchorage here does not have much to offer. All around us are oil pumping facilities, and the harbor is where all the oil rig supply vessels pull into. Also there are helicopters landing and taking off, hauling personnel out to the drilling platforms that are all along the horizon with their bright flames burning everywhere we look. There is also an Egyptian military base here with large bunkers and lookout posts all over the place. So no shore leave for Team Sandpiper.

Our current plan is to wake up early in the am and check out the winds. If they drop down tomorrow below 20 knots, then we are going to motorsail across the Gulf of Suez 25 miles to the next anchorage. If the winds do not come down, then this will be our new home for a 'few' days.

Hopefully next entry is not from here...

Tom and Amy

Endeavour Harbor

Team Sandpiper Update 22 May 2008

Anchored Endeavour Harbor
Tawila Island
Strait of Gubal
Egypt
Africa
27'30.0N/33'56.5E

153 Miles to the Suez Canal!!!
0 fish caught...

Team Sandpiper got a late start this morning as we were not sure what the winds were going to be doing. But at 9am the northerly winds had dropped down below 20 knots and we took off hoping to eat up some miles to the north. No such luck. We got 7 miles out just outside the anchorage we were trying to get to yesterday when the winds picked up to over 30 knots. They buried Sandpiper's bow under the waves and slowed us down to one knot. We decided that the 'smart' thing to do was to pull into where we are presently anchored, in Edeavour Harbor on Tawila Island.

The anchorage here is very protected with a nice sand bottom. Good thing because as soon as we got the hook dropped, along with S/V Shiraz (who caught up with us) and S/V My Chance the winds were up to the high 30's all afternoon.

Late afternoon a powerboat full of kite surfers pulled in along the shoreling and have been entertaining us. Since the winds are so strong they can go quite fast. They like to do tricks right by the 'Piper, jumping about 30 feet up into the air while waving at us. Actually, they seem to do more tricks when it is only Amy in the cockpit. Hmmmm....

It is 153 miles to the Suez, normally an easy overnight sail with following winds. But we made a total of 7 miles today. At this rate to make the it will take us weeks. This last stretch of the Red Sea is going to be our hardest. There are limited safe anchorages and the winds are not predicted to let up.

More later from somewhere hopefully more than 7 miles north of here,

Tom and Amy

A Trip down the Nile

Our trip begins with a 5pm taxi pick-up from the Hurghada Marina along with our friends from S/V Shiraz and S/V My Chance. We were taken to the downtown area of Hurghada from where we embarked on 3-hour van ride to Luxor.

No matter if you travel by bus, van, or rental car, it is mandatory to travel in a police-escorted convoy in certain areas of Egypt. The convoy is a legacy of the Islamic insurgence of the 1990’s when several thousands of people were killed, mainly locals. In 1997 a large group of tourists were killed at a temple in Luxor, which is why the convoy still remains today. It can be a bit of a hassle, and I don’t see how this will detour any attacks. It just rounds all of us tourists up in to one big easy target. But I digress.

Upon our arrival to Luxor we check into our hotel for the evening. Thanks to the air conditioner never coming on, it made the night's sleep hotter than on the ‘Piper. Morning came where we were planning on seeing the sites of Luxor. But when our guide showed up, he asked us "Where is your luggage?" We were swept up into a taxi and taken to the train station for a 3-hour ride to Aswan.

The guide in Aswan didn’t know we were booked for a tour to Abu Simbel and at one point it looked like we might not be making the voyage on the Nile at all. It was all very confusing and a bit unnerving. But luckily, we are flexible with our days and travel. From what I gathered from other travelers, this is just the Egyptian way of doing things.

We finally got it all together and checked into our room on the ship. But it was not the original boat we thought we were going to be on. But it was still OK with us. It was even better after we changed rooms since being above the engines with diesel fumes filling the air wasn’t our cup of tea. Our new room sported a bigger window and a refrigerator.

So now we are introduced to our guide Imed, or "Ed". A very pleasant, knowledgeable, easy going young Egyptian with perfect English. Ed takes us to the site of the ‘Unfinished Obelisk’. This area of Aswan is Egypt’s only source of granite where several obelisk’s have been hacked out, including the one that stands in Hyde Park in NYC. This unfinished obelisk was to be the single heaviest (1100 tons) piece of stone ever completed. But a flaw appeared, and so it lies unfinished.

Next stop... the Aswan Dam. The old dam, built by the British, was once the largest of its kind. But now the new dam built with assistance from the Russians stands higher, longer, and wider.

Once back to our ship we were given the wonderful news that Ed was staying with us the rest of our trip down the Nile. That evening we engaged in a sunset Felucca ride with a quick stop through a Nubian village. Felucca’s are a traditional canvas sailed boat, much smaller than the ‘Piper.

Our next morning we were up and out the door by 3:30am and in a convoy to Abu Simbel, home to the Great Temple of Ramsses II and Temple of Hathor and Nefertari (Ramses' wife). Besides these temples being awe inspiring sites on there own, the amazing part of this places is that they were taken apart and moved to their current location. With the building of the Aswan High Dam, these two temples would have been submerged. So they just moved them here. An engineering masterpiece.

The Cliff Note version of the history of these two temples goes like this: Ramses II loved himself and loved power. So he built this temple for himself to make his enemies shake in their boots. The temple of Hathor was built for Queen Nefertari, Ramses’ favorite wife. And this all happened between 1274 and 1244 BC.

Once back to the ship we hit the lunch buffet and shoved off for the town of Kom Ombo. We arrived late afternoon and jumped ship to visit the Temple of Kom Ombo. During ancient times this area of the Nile was filled with crocodiles, so this temple is dedicated to Sobek (croc god) and Horus. Cliff Notes on Kom Ombo: This temple shows remains of a small mammisi (or birth house), reliefs of first recorded medical surgical instruments, a Nilemeter, and the first recorded calendar. One other quick note this temple took over 400 years to be built. Way cool.

Back on the boat once again and this time we do an over night motor down the Nile to the town of Edfu. Traveling down the Nile just before sunset and watching the green of the fertile riverbanks float by from our comfy double bed was a beautiful way to experience so many awesome sites. The tranquility of the river and the magical sites of the winter white Herons dotted amongst the fertile landscape of corn, cotton, and sugarcane was not a bad way to unwind after the day.

Next morning we fill up our bellies once again at a buffet and meet our guide Ed in the lobby where he has a horse drawn carriage waiting for us to take us to the Temple of Horus. This temple is the most completely preserved Egyptian temple and helps to fill in a lot of historical gaps, a 2000-year-old history lesson. Part of the inner hall is host to the laboratory. Here all the necessary perfumes and incense recipes were brewed and stored, and the ingredients are listed on the walls. Beautiful to see in person. [more links]

For the rest of the afternoon we are free to enjoy the amenities of our ship the M/S L’aube Du Nil. The 4-story ship included a sun deck on top complete with a pool, lounge chairs and disco area. We wasted the day away with a few beers and making new friends on the ship. Every morning when our room was cleaned up the towel guy would arrange our towels in all sorts of exciting animals. Be sure to check out the photos on Flicker. Overall, the ship was super chill and an excellent way to experience the magic of the Nile River.

Our last morning we checked out of our rooms and hoped on a bus to visit our last two stops, the Valley of the Kings and Temple of Karnak. The Valley of the Kings was amazing, a high point for me on our trip. I’m just amazed at the age of these temples and how they did all of this building so long ago and it still looks good. We visited three of these royal burial sites and each one more impressive, not at all what we pictured. The Karnak Temple was our last tour of the trip. It is a huge complex of obelisks, pylons, and sphinx some as old as 1000 years.

I could go on with more details of all the sites. But I don’t want to bore you too much. All in all I think you can tell buy our entry we had a really great time and were completely impressed with everything we saw. We are looking forward to Cairo and the Pyramids.

More later.

Love to all,
Amy and Tom

---

Notes From Ron:

1. There is no Hyde Park in New York City. However, there is Hyde Park with a obelisk in Sydney Australia. But it is made of sandstone, functions as a sewer vent, and is not from Aswan. Perhaps the guide was thinking of Cleopatra's Needle, an authentic ancient Egyptian obelisk from this area that is now in NYC's Central Park.
2. There is an island in the Nile River at Aswan named "Elephantine Island" that has Nubian villages. It has no bridges, so it must be reached by ferry or on a Felucca. The Nubians have built a museum to their culture and history.
3. Here is an excellent page about the Temple at Kom Ombo and the treasures within. Here is a good one that explains how the ancient Egyptian Calendar at Kom Ombo is read.

Shadwan Island, Egypt

Anchored Shaker (Shadwan Island)
Egypt
Africa
27'30.0N/33'56.5E

159 Miles to the Suez Canal!
0 fish caught

We broke free from our luxurious living in Hurghada Marina with one last taste of America = McDonalds, then got underway at 2pm hoping that the predicted wind drop would let us make some miles north. No such luck. The north winds held at 15 to 20 knots. So we were only able to make 15 miles before we had to find safe anchorage here at Shaker Island.

This is a very picturesque anchorage with high hills on the island. Off in the distance we can see the high mountains of the Sinai Peninsula. Supposedly this is where Moses came down with the 10 commandments. There is a nice beach along the shoreline here that is tempting to visit. But our Red Sea Guide warns:

"The island is a prohibited area and is still mined. A solder was recently killed or wounded by one as he came to warn some yachties, who'd been ashore walking. They left apparently without noticing his fate, or if they did, they didn't care."

Nice.....

We are anchored here with S/V My Chance. S/V Shiraz is still living large back in Hurghada, promising to catch up with us tomorrow. We are hoping to leave in the AM to see how much progress north we can make if the winds are below 20 knots. If not we will be staying here or making for another anchorage close to here.

Don't forget to read Amy's entry about our inland trip to the Nile!!

More later from somewhere north,
Tom and Amy

Extra - Somolia Pirates

This evening we leave Sandpiper secure in her slip while we head inland to Luxor. And then we head down the Nile on a river boat cruise. I am posting a link to "Report from 'Pirate Alley ' (Gulf of Aden)", an article that was passed off by email to us by a boat named s/y Dolphin that traveled with us right through the middle of the Gulf of Aden in April. They write of their experience, something to read while we are gone…

Disclaimer:
When I first received an email from another boat that was in the area, I was very skeptical of this story. I could not understand why they were transiting in this area right between Yemen and Somalia. We purposely hugged the coast of Yemen when we transited the Gulf of Aden to avoid this area. Since then I have had this story verified by another boat that was in the area on delivery with limited stops.

We send this out because we have written before about Somalian piracy. We also linked to some BBC broadcasts about the subject. Piracy in the Gulf of Aden gets very little publicity, mostly because there are no reporters in this area or in Somalia. For one contemplating a Red Sea passage, this area can be avoided by hugging the coast of Yemen, like we did.

When we passed through the Gulf of Aden in April, reports of piracy incidents in the area had been just about nil. I say "JUST about nil" as there may have been an incident that was never passed along. However, cruisers being a tight knit group, always seem to get this information out.

See you when we get back!!

Tom and Amy

Hurghada Marina

Med Moored at the Hurghada Marina
Hurghada
Egypt
Africa
27'13.5N/33'50.4E

172 Miles to the Suez Canal!!!
0 fish caught...

We Made It!! We got an early start at sunrise and broke free from were we had been anchored motor sailing straight into the wind/seas making it into Hurghada Marina yesterday at 3pm. Wow! What a contrast Hurghada is from the rest of Africa we have experienced so far! Major building all along the coast line, with new hotels and resorts everywhere we looked. We passed dive charter boats at all the reefs we passed. Hurghada boasts having over 1200 dive boats. We also passed many tour boats, glass bottom boats, and other boats all over the place. We even had large airplanes overhead coming in for a landing at the airport and bringing in plane loads of more tourists. We have not seen a commercial airliner since being in Thailand. We are now back in civilization.

As soon as we arrived outside Hurghada Marina we were met by their dinghy that escorted us in to where we are presently Med moored, with Sandpiper's bow against the dock. There are many other boats here that we know who are all northbound for the Suez.

As soon as we got checked into the marina we got Sandpiper plugged into power. That is also something we have not done for a long time, since Malaysia last December... So Sandpiper is pretty happy here in calm waters, securely moored, and her batteries are fully topped off. We can turn on everything we want, all at once, without having to worry about how many amps everything is drawing down. Even better the marina has free WiFi that has the fastest connection we have ever had on the boat. Check out our photos and videos as they are now all caught up.

We went into town this evening for dinner with the crews from S/V Shiraz and S/V My Chance. We had a really great seafood dinner where all the fresh fish is on ice in the front of the restaurant. We just pointed to what we wanted them to cook up, and minutes later it was on our table, and quite cheap!

There are tourists all over the world here, and shops all over the place selling stuff for them to lug home. Most the tourists are from Russia and Europe, but mostly Russia, with the Russian ladies wearing all kinds of gaudy freaky gear. We are most likely the only Americans in town as talking to the store owners they say very few Americans come to Egypt.

Hurghada is our base of operations for at least the next week or more as S/V Shiraz, S/V My Chance, and S/V Sandpiper are all traveling inland for 4 days to take a river boat trip up the Nile with lots of stops along the way. We will report all about it when we get back!! While we are here look for us on Skype at "sandpipertomandamy". Or better yet call us on our cell phone, as we just got an Egyptian SIM card: +20-16-978-2082.

For an extra reading assignment check out our article in the new issue [PDF] of The Porthole. The Porthole is the newsletter from our yacht club, the Presidio Yacht Club under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The Porthole is published quarterly and this is a continuation of articles that we have been writing for them.

More later from mummy land,

Tom and Amy

Ras Abu Soma, Egypt

Anchored at Ras Abu Soma
Egypt
Africa.
26'50.7N/33'58.8E

196 Miles to the Suez Canal!!!
0 fish caught...

OH SNAP, stuck again! We were so close, just 30 nautical miles or less to our destination of Abu Tig Marina. The winds picked up at 3am and wouldn't let up with gusts up to 30+ knots. We weren't making any headway going 1 knot so we turned around and pulled into our current anchorage which was 6 miles south. I am using the power of 'The Secret' and thinking positively that the winds will come down this evening and we can make a break for it. I can't do another 7 days of waiting out the weather especially being so close to a marina with a swimming pool, restaurants and shopping. Until then we will fill our afternoon with movies.

Thinking positively
Amy and Tom